State of Normal
by jacksgun
Summary: Jack joins the Tardis crew with his own problems and concerns. WARNING: mentions addiction.
1. Chapter 1

Jack crept through the corridors that purred with life

Title: State of Normal

Chapter: Introduction

Summary: Jack joins the Tardis crew with his own problems and concerns.

Jack crept through the corridors that purred with life. His eyes were nervous and sharp as his hand traced the wall in an odd gesture of needing contact with the Tardis to reassure himself. He could feel her disappointment with each muted step. His feet were bare for the sake of stealth and his hair was haphazardly spiked up with sweat and stress from running his hands through it all day.

_The Doctor had noticed Jacks twitchiness but no words were exchanged. And Jack was so concerned with inevitable troubles that he didn't catch the hint of accusation and suspicion in the Doctor's old eyes. _

_Rose, for all her cheerfulness and innocent curiosity, had asked 'everything ok Jack?' and Jack had lied._

'Just fantasising about this girl I once knew…' he had grinned, 'Well I say girl but she wasn't human; bright blue skin, nice eyes, a tight firm…' Rose swatted his arm as his suggestive grin distracted her.

Jack grew angry as he turned another corner and saw that the room he was searching for was missing. The Tardis had rearranged herself again. She usually did this to make life easier for new guests; the transition to travelling across time and space made more comfortable.

But Jack wasn't comfortable. His skin crawled and it wasn't due to cold or the skimpy white tank top and grey jogging bottoms he wore. The sweat on his back was chilled with fear and adrenaline. He knew what the Doctor would say and he could envision the anger on the wise Timelord's face. It was such an old problem that haunted Jack, such a plague that had survived time and education. Jack knew that for all his technical knowledge and abilities- he'd been stupid once. But he had tried to erase this particular vice and simply couldn't.

'Put it back' he partially begged the Tardis. And sure enough she showed a foolish mercy or maybe she was just smitten with his charm. Maybe she didn't want sick running down her immaculate corridors. The door appeared with a blatant sign 'Medical Bay 1'. Jack had never seen any other medical bay but the number suggested that there was a choice of at least 2.

He opened the door and in a rush over to a cabinet let the door bang behind him. He could barely hear it with his heartbeat drowning out all noise. Jack rummaged through the medical supplies like a mad man, a desperate man, a reckless man. And when he found the packet containing the solution to his sweaty hair, shaking body, sticky feet and general churning sensation in his stomach, he cheered.

'Yes!' and opened the packet, glanced at the syringe and failed to hear the door of the medical bay open. He unwrapped the cord around his jogging bottoms and calmly wrapped it, one-handed, around his bicep like a pro. Watching veins pop up with an impatience, one hand holding the cord, the other the syringe.

So when the Doctor entered the room and saw Jack crouched over the supply cabinet and spoke with authority 'Jack!' He caught the bewildered human off guard. Jack turned around and looked at the Doctor with mild fear and something else. Addiction was a nasty creature and so with very little guilt, the 51st century human emptied the syringe into his veins.

'Next hospitable planet we reach' the Doctor turned to leave, 'You're leaving'.

Jack didn't say anything. And the Doctor left.

* * *

The next morning was quiet. Rose poured the tea and asked about possibly popping home to see her mother. For once the Doctor was easy to convince. She laughed at Jacks face. 'Oh come on!- my mums not that bad Jack!' He was frowning at his coffee that swirled in a cheerful yellow mug and then gave the Doctor a heated glare. The Doctor walked away from the kitchen, over to the control panel and started pulling some levers and pressing a variety of buzzing buttons.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack crept through the corridors that purred with life

Chapter Two:

'This is unreasonable' Jack muttered to the Doctor. Rose had already left, running to her mums flat to surprise her with alien artefacts. The Doctor didn't have the heart to tell her that the strange alien bowl was really an ashtray. Which brought his line of thought towards Jack.

'Its strange, you don't behave or look like a 51st century addict' he dryly commented, studying the younger man like a bug under a microscope. Jack grinned at him, but it wasn't a friendly expression.

'I only take it to stay normal' and there it was. The excuses. And the Doctor mentally added it to a metaphorical list of disappointment.

'Ja..ck' the letters ran over the Doctors tongue like a father about to say something brutal to his child, 'You most likely don't remember what _normal_ is. Even in your time -people know that drugs are destructive acids. That fix of yours like using a band aid for poison- useless. And it makes you pathetic and dangerous to have on my crew'.

The hand ran through the black hair before Jack could even stop himself. 'It isn't like that!' but no explanation followed. He grabbed his duffle bag, cramming clothes into it, not caring if some socks fell onto the floor. 'I tried to get help' he seethed, 'but they wouldn't help me because they knew what I was!'

'An idiot, a ridiculous excuse for an ape; A conman?' the Doctor popped his sonic screwdriver in his trouser pocket.

'An escapee' Jack threw the bag over his back and shouldered the Doctor as he stormed out of the Tardis

_He struggled against the chains that bit into his wrists. His feet were shredded and didn't touch the ground in any case. He tried to relieve the stress on his shoulders by using his feet to push against the wall and propelling himself up. But it didn't work and his tired brain wasn't supplying alternatives. Every 15 minutes he would try again despite the other thirty or so failures._

_When the guards finally decided that the Time Agent was done, they let him down and those cracked, scrapped feet burned with crippling agony as soon as they touched the ground. Laughter drowned out the shocked scream from the Agent and he let his body collapse to the side in a foetal position._

_His body burned, literally from acid that had been poured on him and any position on the merciless rock was damaging. His red and raw skin bled with stress and when the foot connected with his head, Jack was relieved._

The Doctor knew that if Time Agents were ever caught, usually they were slaughtered or tortured and then killed. The end of a Time Agents career was rarely in the form of 'retirement'. But the Doctor, himself, hated Agents. Monkeys messing with time for a greater good that they were not able to discern. He never liked that aspect of Jack but he could respect the technical knowledge and hyperactivity that inhabited the younger man.

The Hērmēs Drug was invented to treat any survivors of torture, war, violence. It was a quick way of not dealing with the causalities of any war and was named Hērmēs for its speed and results. It was seen as the ultimate answer in the 51st century to making victims feel 'normal'. For some families it was a Godsend and hence named after the messenger for the gods. It was unlike any other drug; it didn't give of a high. It merely dimmed memories and allowed an individual to function. But essentially the addictive quality and need to be maintained in the blood stream still existed.

Jack was an addict.


End file.
